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After a lengthy update on the ROTJ line in October we’re ready to keep plugging away on our series by series review. This month the focus is all things Episode 5 as we take a deep dive into the Empire Strikes Back toy line. Much like the movie itself this is regarded as one of the best; if not the best series of toys to come out in the original trilogy. We have a lot of cross over with the original Star Wars series with such favorites as the Falcon and X-Wing being re-branded for the new movie, and newbies such as the At At and Slave 1 that have become fan favorites. In addition to the main 3 ¾ inch line we also saw some cool and unique concepts that were only seen with the ESB release such as the Micro Series, a Puppet and the infamous Yellow and Red 6 packs.

With so much to choose there are a lot of directions we can go, sadly we don’t have any recent 3-Pack sales and some areas are a bit limited due to lack of sales activity. Thus we are just offering a sample of some of the key items seen with this release from the main areas including, MOC, MISB Boxed Items, Micro Series, Die Cast and a few truly rare and unique items that came up in the market over the past few months.

The post was updated on 12-1-13 in order to incorporate some recent auctions with items from the early part of the Holiday season that weren’t covered in our original post.

MOC (Mint on Card Figures)

We kick off our review of the ESB line with the core of the vintage toy line, the figures. With 27 new figures released for the movie this was the second largest release for any of the Vintage Star Wars toy lines. Here we saw variations of Hoth and Bespin put on the key leading characters, and an expansion to some great ideas that were missed in the original release such as releasing the generic soldiers and other ancillary but very present staples from the background of the movies. We saw the first and only double release of a figure based on skin color (Bespin Security Guard), the bounty hunters and of course new characters such as Lando and Yoda. All in all these moves made the ESB line a great second movement in the Vintage Star Wars toy line.

In our examples this month we find a great variety of items to discuss, all in all the prices on this line remain very strong, especially for higher grade examples. Some of the key highlights include a 21 Back (Rare) Stormtrooper, an Orange Hair Luke Tatooine, and two very high priced items in the form of Han Bespin and Luke Hoth which both saw ending prices above the $1000 mark.

The Die Cast line was a short run continuation of the line that started with Episode 4 and carried on through the ESB line. Here we have a quick sampling of some of the key items that were introduced for the ESB line. Although the line ended with the ESB release, it still remains a favorite of many collectors and is a great off-shoot for those collecting the main toyline. The highlight in our coverage this month is that of the highly sought after Tie Bomber, a vehicle that was limited to only the die cast line, and therefore it remains a key favorite of collectors. We have a great example listed below both in terms of condition and selling price, showing strong demand in the market, as much like the A-Wing and Tatooine Skiff this particular item bocks the traditional lines of where a collector may stray in their focuses.

Along the same lines as the Die Cast series we find the Micro Series (The precursor to Micro Machines) was a novel, but ultimately unsuccessful branching out effort for Kenner. Looking to capture more market share by a new form factor these are the opposite of the way Kenner tried to augment the original Star Wars release with the large scale 12” figures. This allowed them to package together a more robust product offering as these sets included backdrops as well as the mini figures. Much like the commercial failure of the line, these items aren’t the rarest birds to find sealed today, which prices for many of the smaller sealed sets very palatable at around $40-50 each today. The larger sets including Hoth and Bespin world see a bit of a premium in comparison to the smaller sets but are still very affordable in comparison with items that had similar price points at the time.

When it comes to figure sets and mailers the ESB release had no shortage of items to choose from. We saw the secret figure offer (Bossk) and 4-Lom released as single figure mailers, the continuation of the 3-pack line, over 15 Catalog mailer sets and of course the two 6-Pack figure releases. One of my personal favorite parts of the ESB line the mailers included some huge packs of up to 15 figures with a wide array of the traditional and popular 3 packs. Unortunately we didn’t see a 15 pack – lineart or anything out in left field come along as of late, but we did manage to find a side by side example of a graded and ungraded version of this ESB 9 Pack Mailer.

In the weeks leading up to December we had two 3-Packs from the ESB line appear on the open market. Below are the summaries of both examples. The ESB line of 3 Packs is much like the relationship with the two ESB 12″ Figures that were released, in that they both were short in supply, and thus are the rarest/most expensive of their kind. The ESB line also did a few things color wise and from a figure combination perspective that were real drivers of it’s overall popularity with the collecting community.

With only two figures released in ESB packaging the 12” line wasn’t as robust as the prior movie and was quick lived in terms of shelf life. Still the two released figures are two of the most desired pieces in the 12 inch line in total. In addition to these being popular released items, the mock ups, prototypes and proofs for the lines continued figures are simply some of the best pieces when it comes to pre-production items from the Vintage line.

Rounding out the ESB release are the vehicles, playsets, cases and 1 puppet that helped re-make those scenes on Hoth, Dagobah and Bespin. The vehicles from this line are some of the most unique in any toyline ever released, from the giant AT-AT, to Slave 1 and the Cloud Car the toys were as unique and original as anything in the Star Wars universe. Although we weren’t able to find a sealed AT-AT to review we did track down the remainder of vehicles released in the series, including two examples of Slave 1 that show just how much price can vary auction to auction, even if the items are identical in almost every way.

The playsets for the ESB line were unique in their own way as well, the generic white plastic of the Hoth Turret and Attack base sets is simply one of the coolest simple concepts ever made in toys. Neither are rare and neither are really well adapted from the movies, but anyone who had these as a kid is usually quick to callout how much they were used to recreate scenes from the movies. Additionally in this series we saw the release of three cardboard backed scenes in the Rebel Command Center, Cloud City (Sears Exclusive), and the Hoth Ice Planet playset, all takes in some way on the original Land of Jawas concept. With a full representation of Yoda’s Hovel, via the Dagobah playset all the worlds of Empire Strikes Back were released as a backdrop for the action figures themselves.

In addition to the playsets and vehicles the ESB release saw the release of a few vinyl carrying cases both with unique and captivating artwork. But the most iconic case from the line has to be the release of the Darth Vader carrying case which is one of the most iconic symbols of the vintage toyline as a whole, released with three variations we have two represented below for your review.

Tough to classify but ultimately key items to discuss we have a few truly rare pieces to round out this month’s review. So rare and so unique that we had to pull them out of the rest of the update and give these 3 items a focused section.

I think this and any ESB proof cards are unique and cool in their own way, there’s an interesting mix of cardback pre-production items available from the series, but with sporadic patterns of demand and price. This piece is great as it’s one of the earliest pieces, it’s of a figure from the original 12 and therefore I think this was par for the course or just shy of where it should have been in terms of price. Definitely worth mentioning given the overall rarity of ESB pre-production on the open market these days.

Here we have a truly rare piece by any measure of the word. This is simply a once in a long while item to find in the market, and is therefore the first item in our highlights section. Very basic but very high demand, this piece had a very short existence as it was shortly produced but not distributed, and thus has extremely high demand amongst hard-core collectors. Based on AFA data there only appears to be one sealed graded example and one Q-Graded example, making this one of rarest from the Star Wars line period. This data isn’t all encompassing as there are loose examples that have surfaced in addition to what we see here. A very cool item overall given the array of popular figures, and with it’s lack of distribution it’s simply not discussed in great magnitude, but nonetheless it’s one of the best sales we’ve seen on eBay in the past few years.

As usual we have a very rare foreign release figure to look at this month, this one from one of our favorite series, the Harbert Line. Yoda himself is a high demand figure for the ESB line, but coupled with the rarity and high demand of the Harbert series this particular item is off the chart, really when have you ever seen anything AFA70 go for nearly $8000 on eBay?

Underrated in terms of price this is my personal favorite this month, as these unpainted prototypes continue to grow in value due to the finite amount in the market and the fact that pre-production collectors gravitate towards actual toy prototypes more so than even proofs. Luke Hoth being a favorite of many collectors it’s difficult to figure out why this particular item didn’t fare better in the market, with my assessment being that this could have been perceived a risk due to the lack of documentation, and for all intensive purposes a relatively new seller on eBay.

That wraps up our update for this month, be sure to check back for all of our upcoming episodes on figures and the general updates for the following months:

There was a good assortment this month. I was a little late in publishing this update onto the blog so took the chance to add a little more data on Lando. I actually tried to go without any AFA examples, but had could only find a 31 back that was graded. All other figures were ungraded and looks like a Lando ESB MOC will set you back about $90. Though I was able to add in the 47 back which went for just over $200 as part of the eBay listings posted by “earlyretiree”.

The ROTJ examples were very cheap – though most cards were in fair to rough condition.

It’s always interesting who they pack together in these packs, I think packing him with Han in his trench coat is a decent combination. Though seems there was more demand for Lando packed with Teebo – not quite as appealing in my view.

Happy March everyone, welcome to our monthly installment of the General Update for the Marketwatch. This month we have a special treat for MOC collectors and fan’s of Vintage Star Wars Toys, by John Kellerman. A review of Jeff’s Collectible’s auctions of the Kellerman MOC collection! Not only is it special for the reason of seeing some great and iconic items, but these pieces truly stand out given the overall popularity of John Kellerman’s book and legacy in the Vintage Star Wars Community.

At the center of the Kellerman universe is his written contribution which is extensive, meticulous, but also very focused as a whole. “Vintage Star Wars Action Figures” by John Kellerman is the quintessential reference book of collecting for the Star Wars vintage community. The documentation style and use of large and vivid photos was at the center of the success of the book. It fed information to old and new collectors alike and offered so many data points it still stands as the most well documented printed reference 10 years after its initial release. With a second release pending the stock around John and the Kellerman collection as a whole is at an all-time high. Thus it’s a great honor to get to highlight some of the pieces featured in the first edition of the book here on the Marketwatch.

Before we get into the auctions I hand I had the opportunity to chat with Jeff Jacob (over email) earlier this month to get some of this thoughts on the auctions. Thus straight from the proprietor himself, here are Jeff Jacob’s thoughts on the Kellerman collection auctions.

Q: How did the auctions perform to your expectations?

A: The auctions did well, but there was a lot of time invested to get these to the market not to mention I paid way more than I would ever pay to buy something just to sell it.Q: What was your favorite item up for auction and why?

A: 12 back Vader as I have never owned a 12 back Vader with the SKU( I have had around 25 12 back Vaders go through my hands but never with the SKU) so I had a feeling it would go for good money. All the Vaders did well. The only piece that did not get paid for was the 12 back Ben.Q: Did you keep anything for the Museum?

A: Yes 21 back Luke with secret figure offer, Sand People 21 back with secret offer and, ds commander 21 back with secret offer, as these were the reason I wanted to look at all of them at celebration.Q: A lot of items that were associated with the LFL collection haven’t held their value in comparison to some of the original going rates, do you think the items here will have a similar effect on value?

A: Lucas never collected the items that were sold so there was no connection but these figures were used in the grail book and they were part of John’s collection so I believe they will do well over the years to come.Q: General thoughts on this, I’m guessing there was a lot of personal vested time here, thus I’m curious about any of your experiences that you had with the process that stand out for you.

A: Just that I will always remember CVI for a long time as it was fun to find these and have John document them and then sell them.

I just want to thank Jeff for taking some time to answer our questions on the auctions; it’s always a pleasure getting to converse with him.

Chiming in on his experiences as a buyer and general thoughts on the collection is my fellow Martketwatch cohort, Brisbane Brisbane Mike.

When I heard Jeff talking about these figures in his interview with Skye I was intrigued. The Kellerman book is most often looked at Star Wars reference book. Such a useful book, particularly if you focus on a character – great way to learn what’s the difference between a 48B and a 48C.

I honed in on a few of the ESB carded MOC’s Jeff had listed. The 48 back R2-D2 was my main objective. It had a good level of bidding, lifting up from Jeff’s opening price of $240 to its ending price of $355. There were no other 48 backs selling in recent times, but a 45 back sold for around $400 while a 41 back graded R2 sold for $242. I’ve found the 48A’s a little hard to come by, and for the more popular characters bidding can be quite strong. So all in all I’m happy with the R2-D2 and the little piece of vintage Star Wars collecting history he represents.

After I won the R2-D2 I jumped in on a few other ESB carded figures. I ended up being the only bidder and ended up with 3 of the MOC’s in total. They all have a distinguishing element, such as a price sticker, such that it will always be recognizable from the Kellerman book.

Auction Reviews:

The auctions feature items that were highlighted and used in the production of John’s first book. Jeff purchased these items and brought together and executed on the idea of having these documented. Thus following the grading of the items Jeff worked with Todd Chamberlain the original seller of the items to produce a unique packet for each item. Each of the pieces is documented as to how it was used in the book on a letter signed by Todd, and John Kellerman himself. Additionally each item includes the original numbered baggie used to store the figure in the massive Kellerman collection.

Rather than reviewing each figure we have simply stated the vital statistics for each figure along with a link/image. We’ll cover off a few from each movie in the series with additional comments, where applicable.

The first section of the review is the Return of the Jedi line, rather than going chronologically I thought we’d go new to old which also turns out to be low to high in price. The Jedi series faired extremely well, and showed a tremendous premium to the market prices of normally realized by the “Non-Kellerman” versions.

Being part of the smallest figure release in an epic line like Star Wars is something to brag about, especially if you’re a 3 foot tall Ewok. Alas both Paploo and Lumat have the distinction of being 78 and 79 in the original release. Here we have a great example of the Paploo figure, I always thought he was one of the best molded and designed figures of the original Ewoks. This specific item drove a hefty price in comparison to a non-Kellerman example which would see $125-175 on the high end. But in the end this is a great example and for the ROTJ line one of the only examples used in first 79 section as opposed to a specific variant or backer as seen with Biker Scout and Ben Kenobi.

The Empire series continues to be one of the fan favorites, therefore it’s not surprising that we saw a lot of movement in the ESB auctions. Jeff offered up a lot of variety here doubling up on a few characters and expanding the total auction count drastically over the ROTJ listings. Here we see our first $1000+ ending price as well which also happens to be our first figure in the review.

Darth Vader continues to be one of the most highly sought after figures in the original series, he was without any variation in comparison to his rebel counterparts and thus the iconic figure was released across all three lines in the same form. This particular example is one of the rarest cardback combinations out there and surely made the year for a Darth Vader focus collector. The final price of $1126 was really in line with what one would expect given recent values on other more difficult to find Vader examples. A great piece and a great peak in the ESB line auctions from round 1.

One of the only cardbacks to get a full change over the orginal Leia Organa Bespin figure is a vintage collector fan favorite through and through. Along with her brother Luke’s Bespin changeover this figure attracts collectors from all sides of the vintage hobby, variant collectors, MOC collectors, Leia focus collectors and of course ESB focus collectors. With that in mind it’s no surprise that this popular but not too rare figure realized a value of $465 a premium of about $150-200 over a non-Kellerman owned version.

The last figure we’ll review in the ESB series is the first Clipper auction to discuss. Given that John’s collection was so vast there was a lot of breadth in cardbacks and variants at hand. But one of the best segments that we saw arise from these auctions were the few Clipper figures that were sold off across the three OT movies. This particular Zuckuss figure is one of my personal favorites from the auctions given it’s condition and overall rarity.

The last and final section covers off the Star Wars figures from the collection. Some of the most notable include the Darth Vader with a sku number variation, a 21 back Vader, and a pair of Death Star Droids.

As we move into the Star Wars auctions we find the price points of the auctions continuing to creep up. In this run we saw several auctions go for $1000 or more; in a few cases it’s driven by condition in others it’s driven by the rarity of the figures themselves. All in all this was the most fun set of figures to watch as we saw some really great prices realized across the board.

Our first Death Star Droid auction is also our first auction to hit the $1000 mark in the series. The Death Star Droid isn’t exactly one of the most sought after figures in the series, but it is one of the most difficult to find in pristine condition in both the loose and MOC condition. This deals primarily with the fact that the figures’ paint rubs off extremely easily over time. Making 90 or better examples of the figure in either MOC or Loose form extremely tough to come across . Thus I believe condition is the overriding factor in the price realized here for this 21 back example, which isn’t the easiest to find, but for an 85 or 80 I don’t think you’d come even close to the price we see realized here.

Our last figure in the Star Wars series is also the crème del a crème of the series. Not only do we have a great condition example of one of the most high demand figures in the current market, we also have possibly one of the rarest cardbacks in the series as a whole. This segment of cardback collecting and MOC collecting isn’t breached that much, why you may ask; because there simply are not many examples to talk about when it comes to Star Wars figures with the sku variation on them. This piece has been exceptionally cared for and the realization of a selling price of $6100 puts this figure in a league with the rarest of the rare in the Star Wars universe.

As typical in the eBay universe, we didn’t see all the items go in the first round of the auctions. This is mainly due to the starting prices invoked on these in the first round, as they definitely moved when they were put up as .99 auctions with no reserve.

What surprised me about the second round of auctions was the prices realized on a few of the pieces. It’s truly supportive of what I refer to as the price/value perception phenomena \. This occurs when you set something to a full fledge open auction, .99 starting price with no reserve. It’s an oddity that produces higher results then when things are listed at a FMV starting price. It makes little to no sense conceptually, but its present in several of the auctions we see below. One quick example is the ROTJ Ben Kenobi that was originally listed at $199 and didn’t have any bids the first round. In the last round it actually demanded a price of $250 with bidding lasting up to the last minute.

Overall it was great to see the prices realized below. It truly shows that there is definite name recognition and prestige that are put with these pieces.

So overall we saw some great things happen here. We saw a lot of incredible above and beyond prices realized which enhances the overall persona around John and his contributions to the hobby. In closing this was a truly historic moment in Vintage Star Wars collecting and it’s great to see such a positive outcome from the listings as a whole.